Green and Energy Efficient Homes

I specialize in helping buyers find and selling homes that are green and energy efficient. While some homes are certified as green by housing or environmental industry groups, properties don’t necessarily have to carry a label to be considered green. What all such homes have in common is a desire by its owners to live in a property that incorporates systems and features that lower utility bills, improve health and comfort, and minimize the impact on the planet.

For existing homes, there’s a vast array of strategies for achieving greater efficiency. They include small, inexpensive upgrades, like installing low-flow water faucets, energy efficient light bulbs, and programmable thermostats. In addition, less visible elements, such as efficient insulation and air sealing, create a more comfortable, less drafty interior environment. And bigger, more costly projects–high-efficiency furnaces, solar panels, and triple-pane windows, for example–often provide larger financial and environmental gains.

Newly constructed homes are being built to high standards that embrace green principles. Many builders now take a scientific, whole-building approach to ensure that a property’s design, layout and systems work in concert to create a functional, comfortable setting that addresses environmental concerns.

For some, energy efficiency and cost-savings is most important, while for others it’s about the health aspects or the environmental impact of our housing.